S01 E09 – How to Build Authority Content

You have clients, right? I assume they are asking you all sorts of questions and you are answering them. (Otherwise, you wouldn’t have those clients for long).

They are looking to you as someone who holds answers. Someone who knows what they are talking about.

Someone who is an authority.

You have the experience in your field that clients are willing to pay for.

This episode will give you some ideas on getting that experience and those answers out from the emails and phone calls and onto the web.

EPISODE TAKE AWAY

Open your email. Pull out any and all questions folks ask you. Jot them down and see if there are any repeat offenders. Then take your response to those questions and draft up some blog posts and schedule them out.

Important Mentions in the Episode

Did you know that you are an authority in your field and you have already written content that proves it.

Folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Ducker, and Chris Marr have become HUGE authority figures in their field and have people flocking to them for their next piece of content every single week.

In this episode, you will see how your experience and what you do daily will allow you to push that publish button quickly and often so that you produce authority content and become that go-to person your potential clients want to work with.

Are you hitting the publish button?

Are you producing content on a regular basis?

No?! Um, why not?

I know you are taking sales calls from leads. You are replying to emails from clients, right?

Why are you doing those, but not hitting the publish button?

My only guess is that you don’t want to be looked at as an authority. At least to the public eye anyway. Because right now as you take sales calls and reply to emails, you are looked at as an authority to those leads and clients, otherwise they wouldn’t be reaching out to you.

By taking sales calls and replying to emails you are building a library of authority content that you can leverage.

Want to attract the great clients you have, then answer the questions they are asking you, but display it on your website or someone else’s website to bring folks back to yours.

When you first start out looking to buy a tv or a car or anything for that matter that’s more money than the cash in your wallet, don’t you start by doing a little research? Maybe by asking some questions, you have about it?

Let’s face it, if you haven’t bought a TV in the past 5+ years, you may have heard of 4K, but do you know what OLED is? What about UHD? Do you want a Smart TV or maybe a Streaming Media Player instead? Oh and don’t forget all those wires you have, what sort of connections do you need?

Aren’t these the first few questions that you would ask yourself when setting out to buy a TV? They may seem like beginner questions but there’s always a beginner out there looking for answers.

Let’s step aside from the consumer electronics market for a minute and take a look at another example.

Say you are celebrating a friend’s birthday and there’s a bunch of you that want to take him out for dinner and then maybe for some drinks afterward.

Isn’t the first thing you do to go and Google “best Italian restaurant in your city”? Or maybe it’s a post on Facebook asking for suggestions for the best blues bar?

You are doing a little bit of research for opinions and suggestions on where to go and most importantly, why? The reasons to go to a specific restaurant could be for the atmosphere or a certain special they have on Friday. Similarly for a bar.

When you are doing these searches you are looking for those that have gone there before. Or have bought that product before. You are looking for answers to those that have experience already.

Those that have the experience, have authority to share.

Now I get the whole imposter syndrome thing. In fact, I still wrestle with it myself, so I understand the hurdle to overcome.

The thing to remember is that when someone comes to you looking for answers, they don’t come to you, they came for their answer. They came for themselves.

It could be you, or an automated response, or a blog post, if the answer is provided to them and gives them value, they’ll be happy.

In fact, they’ll even come back with another question a little later because you gave them the answer to their first question.

And then a third time.

Maybe then they’ll take a look into who is answering their questions with such awesome answers.

Only after a few pieces of valuable information will they realize that “hey, this person has helped me out a bunch, maybe I should see what this person is all about.”

This season is all about Getting Clients, and we’ve learned together over the past bunch of episodes that leveraging what is already working for us is the best way to get more of the same, right?

Well if you have 1, 10, or 50 clients, that means you have an authority in a subject matter that someone is willing to pay for. And that someone looks at you like an expert. That someone asks you time and time questions about your solution to them or your opinion on something new in the market.

You can turn those questions into authority content that allows you to be able to reach out to those that are only beginning to look to buy.

This is called cold outreach, Feasters!

Cold outreach is a buzzword that really means making contact with someone who has never heard of you before.

It’s pretty simple to do. It’s a matter of hitting that publish button and answering some questions.

Think about some of the stuff you wish clients knew. Maybe even some quick, low-hanging fruit, type of things that could solve a problem for a lead.

How about a case study of a past client of yours that was a project that ended in great success.

These are all things that you are already doing and answering for clients. Why not take an hour or so and craft a blog post from them?

Better yet, those low-hanging fruit items, go ahead and create a lead magnet for folks to opt into with their email address and download.

Now, don’t just take my word for it. I know that you’ve heard the phrase “content is king” before. Along with many many other folks telling you to write blog posts regularly.

There’s a reason why Gary V puts out as much as he does. Whether you like him or not, he’s hitting that publish button.

Chris Ducker and Chris Marr are 2 guys that I have followed for years, spoken to on many occasions and respect. It’s not just for their accents either. See Chris Ducker is from London and Chris Marr is from Scotland if you don’t know these guys.

Chris Ducker has built a very successful brick and mortar business and only got into the online space in 2011. Since then he’s had several #1 podcasts, a weekly blog that continues on to this day provides all sorts of free resources to his target customer all in the name of becoming an authority.

His brick and mortar business is Virtual Staff Finder and he’s become the authority when it comes to building a virtual team. He’s even written the book on it.

Now he’s helping other online entrepreneurs build their business around their personal brand with Youpreneur. He’s basically taken what he’s done with the brick and mortar business and doing it again with his online business.

Chris Marr, on the other hand, started online first. Chris runs the Content Marketing Academy. Much like Ducker, Marr puts out tons of content in various forms as well to position himself as the authority in creating content.

It’s not smoke and mirrors either, these gentlemen put in hard work in order to be able to get themselves out in front of their target customer.

The key thing to keep in mind though is that they are in it for the long haul. It’s not about putting something out and then trying to get them to sign up and become a customer in a week.

For one, just doesn’t work like that. Two, it’s a trust-building exercise. If either of these guys solves a problem for their audience, then that person will opt-in to something of theirs and start to get more and more updates, free resources, and learn more about what each of them offers.

Then once the time is right, that person will decide to buy.

The measurement of ROI on authority content is hard to measure and really is a topic of discussion for another time.

What I want you to take away from this episode though is that if you have anyone asking you questions about your services, then you have authority in your field.

You have authority because you have a skill that someone else does not.

You have authority because you have experience!

The action steps for this episode are pretty simple. Go through your email, specifically the emails from your clients and leads. Pull out any and all questions they ask you. Jot them down and see if there are any repeat offenders.

Then take your response to those questions and draft up some blog posts and schedule them out.

Blog posts don’t need to be these epic ones that you see that are 5000 words. 500 words will do just fine.

Post them on your site and then tweet me. Seriously, tweet me that you listened to the show and took action. I’ll be sure to take a read and share it myself.

I’ve been in the game for a long time, and I’m not one for regrets in life either. But if there is a regret I have is not pushing that publish button much sooner.

The time is now to start pushing that button. You’ve got the experience and expertise, otherwise you wouldn’t have any clients.

Say “hi” to imposter syndrome and then tell it to go sit in the corner. Spend a few minutes pulling out your emails from clients and start writing some content and you’ll be surprised how quickly it becomes a habit and starts bringing to you the types of people you want as clients.

Until next time, it’s your time to Live In The Feast.

Season 8 - Building Your Business

Building your business is a satisfying experience. However it doesn't come without hiccups and bumps in the road. This season we talk with business owners that have built sustainable, predictable, and successful businesses that fit their lives and their goals.

Live In The Feast Podcast

Live In The Feast is a seasonal podcast for freelancers looking to get out of the feast or famine cycle and stay in the feast for good. Each season will be about a topic specific to your freelance business. Each episode within the season features actionable takeaways for you to implement in your business immediately after each show. No fluff, no pie in the sky dreaming, this is real-life examples and takeaways for you.